Beautiful Dreamer
Larry Ricksen Larry Ricksen

Beautiful Dreamer

This touching short story of the healing power of kindness is another one from Arthur Gordon’s soulful book, A Touch of Wonder, published in 1985. As I indicated in a previous post, I discovered this book on my mother’s bookshelf about 40 years ago and have purchased and given away several copies of this book, the most recent to my oldest granddaughter on her 13th birthday. Most of the stories in this book are personal events from Gordon’s life that had a transforming impact on him. Whenever I return to this book I am reminded that all of us have meaningful stories from our lives that have shaped who we are today . . .

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A Story and A Song
Larry Ricksen Larry Ricksen

A Story and A Song

Recently my father and I were moved by a YouTube video of the story behind the timeless hymn, "Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus", written by Helen Lemmel (1863-1961) in 1918. Helen’s inspiration came from a short leaflet a friend gave her titled “Focussed: A Story and A Song” written by Lilias Trotter (1853-1928), a gifted artist, who chose to serve the Lord as an Algerian missionary rather than pursue a lucrative art career. Lilias created this leaflet based on a diary entry she made in 1901, when early one morning, while alone in the woods, she was captivated by a single dandelion illuminated by the sun . . .

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The Final Frontier
Larry Ricksen Larry Ricksen

The Final Frontier

I received an email recently from a friend who in his closing wrote, “And the greatest of these is love.” Some of you may recognize this as the very last words from 1st Corinthians 13, the great chapter on love. What does this chapter say about love? . . .

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